David Moyes’s catastrophic first season as Manchester United manager took a dramatic turn for the worse last night as Sunderland beat them on penalties to reach the Capital One Cup final.

Gus Poyet’s side, who are second from bottom of the Barclays Premier League, won a shootout 2-1 after four United players missed their spot-kicks. Sunderland will now face Manchester City at Wembley on March 2.

It was another crushing Old Trafford blow for Moyes in a season of torment after succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson. The United boss, who refused to answer questions on Juan Mata’s expected arrival, admitted: ‘We are disappointed but we didn’t play well enough to win.

Theatre of nightmares: Manchester United boss David Moyes had a night to forget as his side lost to Sunderland in the Capital One Cup semi-final

Night to savour: Sunderland's players enjoy beating United at Old Trafford on penalties to claim a place in the Capital One Cup final

Off target: United's Danny Welbeck misses his penalty against Sunderland

‘With a minute to go in extra time we
were just about there and we had opportunities to score a second but
didn’t do so. We went to penalties and our penalties were terrible.

‘There
is always going to be a loser in semi-finals and it happens to be us. I
know the goal we conceded was bad luck but we didn’t play well enough
and if we were going to go through we would have stumbled over the line.

‘We
went in with fresh players to give us energy. We had chances to finish
it off and didn’t. We had to defend a few corners but I repeat, we
didn’t play well enough.’

United boss David Moyes was unhappy with De Gea's rare error and particularly with his side's penalty takers.

Lonely place: Moyes trudges off the Old Trafford pitch after United's loss to Sunderland on penalties

Wasteful: United striker Javier Hernandez, left, passed up a great opportunity to score when the game was level on aggregate at 3-3

'David's been really good this season,' the Scot told Sky Sports News. 'Keepers do make mistakes but it was a costly one, with a minute to go, but that happens in football.'

Captain
Darren Fletcher was United's only scorer from five attempts in the
shoot-out, with Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones blazing over and Adnan
Januzaj, like Rafael, denied by Mannone.

Moyes said: 'That was really poor, I would expect better, but again those things do happen.'

With
Ferguson again looking on, United took a first-half lead through Jonny
Evans, who spent two spells on loan at Sunderland.

Poyet’s side, 2-1 up
from the first leg and looking to reach their first Wembley final since
1992, dominated for long spells but did not manage a shot on target
until the 119th minute when David de Gea inexplicably spilt Phil
Bardsley’s low drive into his net.

Nowhere to hide: David de Gea reflects after letting Sunderland's Phil Bardsley score from long range

Javier Hernandez replied immediately
when he thumped in Adnan Januzaj’s cross but Sunderland keeper Vito
Mannone was to be the hero of the shootout.

Poyet later revealed that his players sang the Italian’s name back in the dressing room.

‘It is special when that happens,’ he added. ‘He was half-embarrassed by it but he deserved it.’

The
former Arsenal goalkeeper saved the last kick from Rafael, having
already denied Januzaj. Darren Fletcher was the only United player to
score, with Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones both blazing over the bar.

Sunderland’s
Craig Gardner was also too high and Steven Fletcher too weak, while De
Gea made an excellent stop to prevent former Manchester City winger Adam
Johnson claiming the winner. But the Spaniard was helpless to stop the
shots of Marcos Alonso and Ki Sung-yeung, whose effort effectively won
it.

Sunderland’s only other
League Cup final appearance was the 1-0 defeat by Norwich in 1985 and
their last major trophy was the 1973 FA Cup final win over hot
favourites Leeds United.

Jim Montgomery, hero of that legendary side, sat beside owner Ellis Short last night and the American billionaire joined the players’ celebrations later.

Poyet
said: ‘The players were asking to take penalties. I have never known
that. There was a bit of a fight between Bardsley and Ki for the fourth
penalty because they both wanted it. Then we had three who had to say
‘‘Sorry, gaffer’’. We might need to practise some more before Manchester
City! They are the most in-form team and we need to be practically
perfect to win it. But it could happen.’